wiredinUSA December 2012

INDEX

French renewable electricity production company EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) has commissioned the 115MW Toul- Rosières photovoltaic plant in the Lorraine. Located near Nancy, in the Meurthe-et- Moselle department of eastern France, the solar plant uses around 1.4 million thin-film photovoltaic panels from First Solar. The plant is expected to generate enough electricity to cater to the power needs of 55,000 people and reduce CO 2 emissions by 4,600 tons every year. EDF EN CEO, Yvon André said: “Located on abandoned land on the site of [a] former NATO air base, the Toul facility represents an ambitious conversion project, which has led to the decontami- nation of the site and given it a second lease of life in the generation of green electricity.” EDF EN designed and built the power plant in 2009, with the firm’s subsidiary EDF EN Services managing operations and maintenance at the plant. New French solar plant

Desertec desertion?

The Desertec initiative, a plan to provide 15 percent of Europe’s power needs from solar plants in North Africa via subsea cables, is facing new challenges since the withdrawal of two of its industrial backers. Since then, the Spanish government has baulked at signing an agreement to build solar power plants in Morocco. Desertec was set up in 2009 with a projected budget of €400 billion to tap the enormous potential of solar and other renewables in North Africa. The ambition was that by 2050 around 125GW of electric power could be generated. This would meet all the local needs while also allowing huge amounts of power to be exported to Europe via high-voltage direct current cables under the Mediterranean. Three years on, the project has made little progress and Siemens and Bosch have decided they will no longer be involved. Among the first steps announced by Desertec was to build three solar power plants in Morocco. A declaration of intent was due to be signed recently by a group of countries including Spain and Italy, but the Spanish government has demurred, citing difficulties in finding the subsidies the project would need.

wiredInUSA - December 2012

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